Cruelty and plunder in South Africa - Foreigners rape our seas

Cars, cash and even women are among bribes that have been offered to official government observers aboard foreign vessels fishing in South African waters, to persuade them to turn a blind eye to fish plundering and other illegal activities.

And if bribery doesn't work, observers are often threatened and intimidated by crew.

The government kicked foreign fishing boats out of South Africa's exclusive economic zones a few years ago, but they have made a comeback through joint ventures with South Africans.

Most are from South Korea. One observer reported a hostile crew member pushing him and another nearly slicing his thumb off when he tried to measure a fish. He said his food had become inedible and his coffee undrinkable on trips of up to 40 days.

Dave Japp, whose company Capfish SA has a contract with Marine and Coastal Management to place the observers on board the foreign fishing vessels to record what is happening at sea, said numerous incidents of destructive fishing practices had been observed in recent months.

These include shark finning - hacking fins off live sharks and throwing them back into the sea to die - dumping non-biodegradable material overboard and not bothering with mandatory bird-scaring lines, causing the death of hundreds of birds, including endangered albatrosses and petrels.

Japp said there were also reports of foreign long-line boats deliberately and illegally targeting sharks.

In 2002 Valli Moosa, then minister of environmental affairs and tourism, was applauded for ejecting foreign vessels with their destructive fishing practices from South African waters.

Moosa said at the time that the country's fishing resources were for exploitation by South Africans, not foreigners.

Under a new Marine and Coastal Management policy for large pelagic species which came into being last year, South African rights holders were given fishing rights for large pelagics such as tuna and swordfish, many of which were approved with foreign joint ventures.

The policy states that only owners of boats of a certain size could qualify. And catches, if taken by a foreign boat in a joint venture with a South African company, accrue to South Africa.

The main purpose of this clause was for South Africa to benefit ultimately in the form of possible future allocations issued by the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT) which are likely to be based on catch history.

Observers
Many South African fishers did not qualify for rights because they either had boats that were too small, even though they had actively fished for tuna and swordfish from their boats, or were not considered for technical reasons.

"These policy conditions basically allowed the foreign longline operators, of whom most are Korean, back into our waters with their bad fishing practices, including killing more than 400 sea
birds," Japp said.

He added that the well-being of the observers was paramount and they would not be put on vessels considered unsafe.

He said observers were expected to fulfil their normal tasks, which included reporting on compliance issues, but were not empowered to stop bad fishing practices, which was the responsibility of Marine and Coastal Management.

The Worldwide Fund for Nature (WWF) and BirdLife South Africa have also expressed concern about foreign fishing vessels, especially after a Korean fishing boat skipper was given a slap on the wrist by an Eastern Cape judge earlier this month for "breaking almost every rule in the book".

Deon Nel, manager of the WWF Marine Programme, said the skipper of the South Korean fishing vessel Dong Won 630 had been fined R50 000 and given a suspended sentence for a range of infringements. Nel said the fisheries observer on board the Dong Won, Raymond Manning, had put his life at risk to report activities on board, such as finning and dumping of non-biodegradable material overboard.

Attempts were made to bribe him and, when this failed, Manning was threatened and forced to radio for help.

"What more must be done before a tough sentence is passed? Do we have to wait for a fisheries observer to be thrown overboard?" Nel asked.

When Marine and Coastal Management went after the Dong Won to bring Manning back, the ship tried to flee and was apprehended only after the patrol vessel Ruth First chased and caught it.

Lesley Rochat, Executive Director of AfriOceans Conservation Alliance, a non-profit organisation committed to the conservation and sustainable use of Africa's marine resources, said the unsustainable fishing practices of foreign vessels allowed to fish in South African waters under the new rights issued by Marine and Coastal Management were deplorable.

"These vessels are known to directly target sharks, (which should be caught only as by-catch), fin sharks, misreport catches, and cause the mortality of hundreds of highly endangered birds."

Rochat said this might only be the tip of the iceberg as there appeared to be a serious lack of adequate monitoring of landings.

Questionable
"That foreign vessels are allowed back into our waters in the first place is highly questionable. And that they are plundering South Africa's resources in our own front yard, is of grave concern." She said unrelenting fishing practices such as these should not be tolerated.

"Drastic measures are required to address what can be described as nothing less than the rape of our oceans." Rochat said the alliance would like to see a moratorium on foreign flag operations with immediate effect.

But Marine and Coastal Management spokeswoman Carol Moses said the Dong Won arrest did not mean all foreign vessels were involved in illegal activities.

She said that if observers had information about other infringements the department would investigate and take action.

Moses said action was also taken against South Africans caught fishing illegally, as could be seen by the recent arrest of Cape Town-based deep-sea trawler Sandile which had been targeting snoek stocks off the West Coast.

Source: www.sharklife.co.za